BHUBANESWAR: Jajpur district administration was caught on the wrong foot after the Revenue and Disaster Management department objected to its proposal to renovate an unauthorised guest house built over a piece of government land in Baligari village under Dharmasala tehsil.
The guest house, Rangasala, came to limelight after the body of lady village level worker (VLW) and in-charge panchayat executive officer of Haridaspur Smitarani Biswal was recovered last month.
Though it was initially decided to demolish the building, the district administration sought a clarification from the Revenue department following a proposal to renovate the building into a public library, orphanage or old-age home.
In a letter to Jajpur Collector Ranjan Das, Additional Secretary to Government Avaya Kumar Nayak stated that encroachment should have been evicted without seeking any clarification.
“Normally, no Collector seeks clarification on such an obvious issue of unauthorised encroachment. The OPLE Act, 1972 and the OPLE Rules, 1985 provide eviction of unauthorised encroachments. All such encroachments except those by homestead-less and landless persons shall end up with eviction only. There is no provision for alternative use,” the letter read.
The rules specify that after confirmation of the order of forfeiture, the property is to be sold in public auction and the sale proceeds are to be credited into the treasury.
Nayak, however, made it clear that the administration should seek the permission of court since criminal investigation is on in connection with the unnatural death.
“Demolishing the building without clearance from the competent court and investigating agencies may result in compromising with evidence. You are, therefore, advised to take the leave of the court concerned and the investigating agencies before taking appropriate steps to demolish the unauthorised structure constructed over the Government land,” the letter stated.